User talk:Xoid/arc/2006/November

Project BattleMechs

• Great job with the Phoenix editing. You might be interested in joining Project: BattleMechs (the link is on the bottom of the main page). --Revanche (admin) 22:44, 14 November 2006 (CST)

• I woudl also like to thank you for cleaning up the PHawk. I never realized so many errors made it through on tht one. I would like to welcome you to the wiki and welcome you to the BattleMech Project. There are a great deal of entries, about 99% have been run through MS word but somehow something always slips by.--CJKeys 08:21, 15 November 2006 (CST)

No problem. :-)

Heh, it's incredible what MS Word lets through on occasion. I'm just glad Firefox has a built-in spell checker, it's a great help. --Xoid 02:12, 16 November 2006 (CST)

I may be switching over to firefox for doing my wiki edits then. I currently use mozilla seamonkey for my web page editing but I dont think the browser has a spell check built into it.--CJKeys 14:09, 18 November 2006 (CST)

Templatation

• Wow, simply wow. I don't understand many of the things you've done or created (ex: Tl and Tlp templates), but its clear you know what you're doing. I'm curious: where I've learned by comparing to other wikis and pouring thru the MediaWiki help page and still have a long way to go, where did you learn to wiki? What do you consider the best source for new editors? --Revanche (admin) 13:25, 15 November 2006 (CST)

Follow-up: With the Daikyu (and probably others), you removed spaces that existed in the infobox and such. I ask for educational reasons and not to be nit-picky: is that because it has some affect on the code or is it for your standards of cleanliness? --Revanche (admin) 13:42, 15 November 2006 (CST)

It can (in certain, rare cases) cause unexpected errors (usually minor, sometimes major) so I tend to annihilate excess spaces on sight. There's also force of habit; double spaces aren't rendered on the web (unless you like to make extensive use of the non-breaking space, that is) so I tend to view them as unnecessary. --Xoid 02:12, 16 November 2006 (CST)

I learned to wiki primarily on the source of all quality misinformation: Uncyclopedia, though I've read through Wikipedia and Meta's guides on numerous occasions. The key thing to remember is that all this WikiML? It's nothing more than shorthand for XHTML. Even with the highly up-to-date version of MediaWiki you have, you'll still need to resort to some basic XHTML here and there.

Part of the reason I managed to pick this up all rather quickly is because I'm just good at it, the rather formalised structure of programming and markup languages is something that just clicks with me.

Tl is a very simple template. It has a single unnamed parameter (the {{{1}}}), a matched pair of [ and ]s to make the link, and I used character entities references to make it appear inbetween a matched pair of { and }s. (I try to avoid using <nowiki> tags as much as possible — less work for the parser is always a good thing, IMO.) I can't take credit for the idea though, it's existed on Wikipedia for quite some time. --Xoid 02:12, 16 November 2006 (CST)

I've visited Uncyclopedia not that long ago. It was very well done. In fact, I was thinking of using it as a 'prank' resource when more of my collegues were familiar with Wikipedia.

As for XHTML: that'sa great lead, thanks. Now I can increase my Google net when I want to leanr something. --Revanche (admin) 09:17, 16 November 2006 (CST)

Indent First Line?

• Xoid, I'm thinking you should put 'Resident Wiki Expert' in your sig, 'cause I hope you like answering questions! This one comes from RogueBaron: "Is there a way to make an indent like a paragraph (i.e. only the first sentence is indented)?" --Revanche (admin) 20:02, 15 November 2006 (CST)

There is most likely a way to achieve that through CSS (in fact, I'm relatively certain of it however… be aware that older browsers (e.g. IE6) probably won't render it properly). Does the BattleTech Wiki have a common.css? I hope so, it'll be like pulling teeth to implement otherwise.

'Resident Wiki Expert'? Nooooo! Not again! *goes and hides in a corner* --Xoid 02:12, 16 November 2006 (CST)

Well, you've done an impressive job with what you have done, so you deserve it! ;) --Revanche (admin) 09:17, 16 November 2006 (CST)

Linebreak Removal

• Hey Xoid, thanks for all of the help so far! Question though -- is there a reason you're removing all of the linebreaks in the templates? I find them harder to read and maintain. Nicjansma 11:25, 16 November 2006 (CST)

There is. With templates that are supposed to be displayed inline, like {{tl}}, {{unsigned}}, etc., line breaks cause a mess. <includeonly> is another case where line breaks can cause a mess (though it's harder, it still happens). For most templates, pretty much the only place templates can have line breaks in them is inbetween a <noinclude> and </noinclude> tag. For really large templates (with multiple paragraphs of text), line breaks are fine everywhere except the start and end.

I'm getting the sinking feeling that it's looking like I'm talking in gobbledegook. I'm sorry I can't explain it as well as I'd like, but the best way of putting it is like this: you can either have slightly harder to read templates or slightly harder to read articles. This is because of how the linebreaks are included whenever you call the template — forcing you to make an article harder for editors to read by not using linebreaks when you naturally would. --Xoid 05:28, 17 November 2006 (CST)

Gotcha, I hadn't thought about that aspect. I can see where if you include a template at the top of a page, and the template has linebreaks before the no-include section, those linebreaks will show up in articles in places one might not want. Thanks for the explanation. Nicjansma 11:20, 17 November 2006 (CST)

Template Request

• Xoid, I want to create a series of 'escalating' warnings for random posters of nonsense to this page, as Wikipedia does, rather than just go with the standard ban or personalized warning. If I may, I'd like to request one template built by you that would allow me to politely warn a first-time user that certain actions were not appropriate. I can then base the 'escalated' templates off of what you teach me via the first one. If that's doable, I'm borrowing this one from Wikipedia, that I thought was a good 'first time' warning:

Xoid/arc/2006/November, thank you for experimenting with the page Linked Article Title Here on BattleTechWiki. Your test worked, and has been reverted or removed. Please use the sandbox for any other tests you want to do. Take a look at the welcome page if you would like to learn more about contributing to our community. If you believe this edit should not have been reverted, please contact an Admin for assistance. Signed

I'd also like to have a small image inserted (just the code for it for right now...no image comes to mind for this soft warning). I'd appreciate any assistance you can provide on this. --Revanche (admin) 09:50, 18 November 2006 (CST)

Actually, let me try my hand at it, afterall. I've got a few resources I want to try and teach myself with. --Revanche (admin) 14:49, 18 November 2006 (CST)

Welcome template assistance

• Xoid, would you mind, please, taking a look at a welcome template I've imported & adapted. It seems awkward and doesn't always seem to load correctly. I'd appreciate it. --Revanche (admin) 00:36, 19 November 2006 (CST)

You had a <font> tag, but no ending </font> tag to go with it, making most of the text… screwy. I've made some modifications, but I'm still unsure if that's exactly what you wanted, or just an approximation. --Xoid 00:57, 20 November 2006 (CST)

*corrects signature* Jeeze, you'd think I'd remember to, y'know, sign in by now. I knew I was going senile… --Xoid 01:03, 20 November 2006 (CST)

[laughs] Well, I'm assuming there are no first-time editors that can clean up code THAT good. No, you nailed what I wanted. Thanks. I'm really gonna get into the weeds on what you did, 'cause those <div> statements make no sense to me. Thanks, Xoid! --Revanche (admin) 02:23, 20 November 2006 (CST)

Your Other Wiki

• If its not a state secret, do you mind telling me/us what other wiki you're leading? I'd be interested in checking it out, out of curiosity. --Revanche (admin) 02:23, 20 November 2006 (CST)

Here. Bear in mind that the place has a totally different atmosphere to here; the old blood is firmly entrenched and frowns on most new comers. (Usually because most newcomers have done things like… blanking pages, making incredibly biased edits to a news page, adding "ARE A BUNCH OF FAGS!" to another group's page, starting up misconduct cases because "the big bad admin. stopped me in my vandalism spree", make the exact same suggestion that got voted down (every day single, for the last twelve days) and then complain profusely when it happens again, etc.)

While we try to keep the place neat and tidy and at least semi-hospitable, that's hampered by the fact that admins can't actually do anything without a congressional inquiry; leading to grumpy frustrated users, grumpy frustrated admins and a helluva lot of drama. --Xoid 02:37, 20 November 2006 (CST)

Project BattleMech Userbar

Hi, I have been given a userbar for everyone who is working on BattleTechWiki:Project BattleMechs and I wanted to give you your userbar so that you could be recognized for one of the ways you help the community here at Battletech Wiki. I know that with time, and alot of spell checking and paitence, the BattleMech project will get done and it will help to make Bettletechwiki the premier source for information from 'Mechs to personalities. I hope that you can continue to help wherever you can on the project to make it the best that it can be.

Place this userbar on your userpage as a member and contributor to the BattleTechWiki:Project BattleMechs so that anyone who stops by your userpage will know that you are a member of the project.

I appreciate what you do for the project and I appreciate what you do for Battletechwiki overall with your great level of experience you bring to the community. --CJKeys 07:22, 20 November 2006 (CST)

Edit Count

• How are you counting yours? Manually, or do you have a script, somehow? --Revanche (admin) 05:53, 23 November 2006 (CST)

Semi-manually. Special:Contributions/Xoid, then I copy 'n' paste the link for 50 edits, modify it to a number that seems about right, press enter and I'm done. E.g., I noticed that there are three pages of contribs at the default setting of fifty and it looked really close to there being a fourth, so I tried 45 edits per page. 3 Pages, plus 3 edits left over. 3 * 46 = 138. I then added one to that when I done a slight update on my user page to account for A Place. (I'm still incredulous, by the way.) It'll now be 140, if I'm not mistaken. Trust me, when you get >10,000 edits, setting it to about 25% of your guesstimated edit total per page, then counting how many pages and adding left overs is the only way to do it with even semi-accuracy. Short of installing the leaderboard extension, that is. --Xoid 08:05, 23 November 2006 (CST)

Okay, then.I saw that wikipedia has several that will count by simply putting in the user name, while there was even one that supposedly work (but didn't for Sarna), by putting the main space's address and the user name. --Revanche (admin) 08:28, 23 November 2006 (CST)

The key is making sure that you've not only installed an extension correctly, but ensuring you've got a compatible version of it. A lot of the extensions on meta simply do not work 1.7.x and 1.8.x. Sad, but true. Grabbing the one from Wikipedia's 1.8.x branch's CVS is the way to go; you've got a very good chance that they actually work. --Xoid 08:34, 23 November 2006 (CST)

I'm quite happy with this counter. Just change it to match the user name and its good to go. --Revanche (admin) 23:20, 28 January 2007 (CST)

Template:Projects

• Xoid, would you mind seeing if you can 'fix' this? I'm trying to use tables to strecth the links in the box horizontally (vice vertically). --Revanche (admin) 14:18, 23 November 2006 (CST)

Nevermind, it looks like you were reading my mind. --Revanche (admin) 14:19, 23 November 2006 (CST)

The talk page, actually. I've been meaning to get around to it. --Xoid 14:20, 23 November 2006 (CST)

Hi

• You know me, and you're probably sick of me following you around, lol.--The General 12:02, 25 November 2006 (CST)

Admin

• Xoid, your contributions to BTW have been great so far, and Revanche and I look up to the wiki administrative knowledge and experience you have. I would like to add you as an administrator, if you would like to help guide BTW into being a successful wiki. Let me know what you think. Nicjansma 12:31, 28 November 2006 (CST)

I don't have any issues with it. Once I get my assignments out of the way, I'll have an incredibly large free amount of time. I could certainly lend my abilities here for some of that. --Xoid 23:22, 28 November 2006 (CST)

I spot a consensus. ;-) --Revanche (admin) 23:50, 28 November 2006 (CST)

Glad to hear, I'm very happy to give you the rights of an Admin/SysOp. Thanks for all your contributions thus far. Nicjansma 13:28, 29 November 2006 (CST)

RC Patrol

• I feel like I've been a lone cop on a huge beat, just because I feel like I should review each change made (even though we haven't really had user-vandalism, but really just spam). But, this isn't about that (especially since you'll be able to patrol as an Admin now): how do I mark as patrolled a new article? It never seems to show up as an option, yet my eyes always gravitate to the oldest exclamation point when I am on RC Patrol. --Revanche (admin) 23:59, 28 November 2006 (CST)

Click a diff link in Recentchanges and you'll see what's changed. There will also be link (see this example) for patrolling them. You'll also find that your watch list can be used for the same task. --Xoid 00:15, 29 November 2006 (CST)

I should have been more clear: I'm referring to new articles only. They don't have a working diff link. --Revanche (admin) 08:52, 29 November 2006 (CST)

Ah. For those without a diff link, click on the article link in your watchlist or recentchanges instead. --Xoid 15:58, 29 November 2006 (CST)

I've tried that. For example, BattleTechWiki talk:Copyrights shows in recentchanges as a New article. Your unlogged-in IP shows as the creator at 15:48. Neither clicking on 15:48 nor on cur allows me to mark it as patrolled. Clicking on your 15:49 entry (as Xoid) does allow me to mark it as patrolled (because it is not 'new.' Clicking on the article title/link doesn't provide me the option to mark it as patrolled, either. --Revanche (admin) 18:03, 29 November 2006 (CST)

Hm? Links show up like this in my Recentchanges. (Except for the highlighted link, that is.) Just click the link that's high lighted and you'll get the the &rcid=x necessary to patrol it.

Like this:
(diff) (hist) . . N! Template:Blink‎; 19:19 . . The General (Talk | contribs | block) (Just to annoy the hell out of everyone :P)

— The preceding unsigned comment was posted by Xoid (talk • contribs) .

NOEDITSECTION

• What does __NOEDITSECTION__ do? — The preceding unsigned comment was posted by Revanche (talk • contribs) .

Prevents the [edit] buttons from showing up. Xoid 03:29, 30 November 2006 (CST)